Campaign manager: Gankhuyag “Gaana” Balbar
Partner: World Wildlife Fund Mongolia

The Onon River flows approximately 300 kilometers along the slopes of Burkhan Khldun Mountain in Mongolia before it crosses the Russian border and joins the Ingoda River. Its watershed is 2.8 million hectares and is made up of grasslands and coniferous forest. In a country of 3.7 million, less than one million are spread across this vast region, tied together by the 3,000 mile Amur-Heilong river. At its headwaters is the Onon River, home to the last strong-hold of what is one of Mongolia’s most charismatic fish: the taimen (pronounced tie-men or, alternatively, tay-men). 

The taimen is the largest member of the salmon family, can grow to four or even five feet long, and is a top predator that has been known to prey on 26 inch trout, muskrat, and waterfowl. As a top predator, the taimen is also the ultimate "canary in the coal mine" – a perfect indicator of the overall ecological health of the Amur headwaters. Today, the stocks of this species are drastically decreasing due to water pollution, intensive poaching, and over-fishing. 

Rare has teamed up with Gaana Balbar of the World Wildlife Fund-Mongolia to launch a Rare Pride campaign aimed at preserving the Onon River and the amazing Taimen that calls it home. Gaana’s campaign is reaching out to local fishers in the area to build support for WWF’s longer-term strategy to develop community-managed conservation areas (CMCAs) and establish small business enterprises that use natural and sustainable resources to reduce local poverty that include stewardship of the Onon River. Gaana’s social marketing campaign is using billboards, events, songs and radio ads to communicate the economic potential of creating and managing community managed areas that include the stewardship of the Onon River, along with the cultural and environmental significance of protecting this charismatic indicator species. The campaign is also helping form and train anti-poaching units that will produce an emerging class of conservation-minded Mongolian fishing guides. The goal is to increase the number of fishers who release taimen back into the river after they’re caught by 15% by October 2010 and increase the taimen population by 10% by the end of 2017. Gaana’s experience and Pride training is helping ensure community support at a critical point in this multi-year, multi-partner and multi-million dollar conservation effort. 

To further explore this campaign, please visit our conservation community at RarePlanet.org.